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New UserNorth Carolina researcher estimates coal ash damages to equal $300 million
02 Dec 2014
$300 million. That's the estimated pricetag one North Carolina researcher is putting on the coal ash spill from February.And he's predicting it could go even higher.
Dennis Lemly from Wake Forest University looked at economic, clean up, and tourism funds that are and will be lost. So far city leaders say Danville has been hit hard.
"The promise several months ago to make it right and they've done very little to make it right. It's been agonizingly slow," said Danville Vice Mayor Gary Miller.
Nine months after 39,000 tons of coal ash poured into the Dan River, Danville's Vice Mayor Gary Miller still isn't happy with Duke Energy.
"We are in serious negotiations and we have been for sometime with Duke people. We have our attorney, our attorneys and their attorneys" Miller said.
Miller says the spill may have kept an industry out of Danville that's predicted to generate a billion dollar revenue and thousands of jobs.
It's also hurt the city's reputation.
"There are people who still won't drink the water, who feel it was contaminated," Miller said.
Danville's damages are part of the predicted $300 million the spill is costing the Dan River region that spreads 70 miles from the spill site.
Research Biologist Dennis Lemly from Wake Forest University based his findings on effects six months after the spill.
The research article not yet published, describes the harm coal ash did to mussels and marine life that feed from the bottom of the river.
Environmentalists say a rare fish and mussel live in the region most effected by the spill. Caring for those endangered species could be costly.
Still some researchers say it's too early to predict a cost of the damages.
Duke Energy is now working with several universities to study river movement and effects from coal ash.
Duke Energy has promised not to pass the cost of clean up to its customers.
The company is now pouring tens of millions of dollars into revitalization projects along the river.
One at Abreu Grogan Park is starting next year.
Source: http://www.wdbj7.com/